Node4 appoints Tom Needs as Chief Operations Officer

Newly created position to bolster senior leadership team and support company’s rapid expansion

Node4 is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Needs as Chief Operations Officer, a newly created position within the company. Needs, who has previously held positions with Rackspace and Adapt, brings an impressive track record to this role where he will be responsible for running the operational and service delivery functions of the business; and ensuring that we deliver highest levels of customer satisfaction and experience.

Andy Gilbert, CEO, Node4, comments: “Our appointment of Tom at board level comes at a critical time for us as we look to position ourselves for the next stage of growth. Tom has been pivotal in helping several businesses scale up and evolve their service offering over the years, and with his wealth of knowledge and expertise Node4 can continue to deliver an outstanding customer experience to its existing customer base and prospects across all of our service lines.”

Tom has more than 15 years of experience within the managed services industry. Tom was a board member at, and COO of, Adapt, a company backed by Lyceum Capital. Here Tom was responsible for transforming operational and service delivery capabilities to support the company’s transition from a reseller into an award-winning Hybrid Managed Cloud Services business; and then subsequently selling the business to Datapipe. Prior to joining Adapt, Tom was VP at Rackspace EMEA. Here he spearheaded Rackspace’s £145million Enterprise division, and had full accountability for sales, marketing and service delivery.

Tom Needs said: “Having admired Node4’s transformation into a market-leading UK Managed Services player for some time now, I am thrilled to be joining the company as Chief Operations Officer. Node4 is a fast-growing company with a great reputation within the industry, and I look forward to enhancing and developing the existing foundations of the company to deliver a diverse range of critical services to solve the evolving needs of Node4’s customers.”

Needs’ appointment follows a period of sustained success and growth for Node4. Over the last three years Node4 has tripled its staff, grown its customer base to over 1000, and expanded its geographical presence and cloud services portfolio. Last year, it also announced a new principle investor, Bowmark Capital, which has committed £40m of follow-up funding for Node4’s ambitious growth and acquisition plans over the next three years.